One Friday morning in the mid 1990’s, I got the three older kids in our home on the bus for school. I was ready to drop off our youngest daughter with her sitter. I was also ready to go on a field trip with my preschool class.  But my husband was pacing the hallway and needed to take the nitroglycerin tablets he had been prescribed after having a mild heart attack in 1991. I convinced him to at least head straight to his doctor’s office. I dropped our youngest one off with the sitter then headed straight to the doctor’s office as well. When I arrived the receptionist told me to head on over to the hospital. Thank goodness it was next door!  The doctor had walked him over and admitted him to the ICU.  A second heart attack was prevented with medication and he was transferred to a larger hospital in Atlanta.  

Tests that afternoon showed the need for bypass surgery.  However, he was stable enough to wait until Monday morning.  Due to some other interesting Georgia “celebrities” it was a busy weekend at this hospital.  One professional athlete had a badly broken leg, and one well known local author passed away at a nearby hospital. The author was being treated by the same group of cardiac surgeons treating my husband, so between the athlete and the author, the news stations were constantly on site. Saturday a state politician moved into the next CICU room in need of heart surgery of his own!  This brought more media coverage and quite a few well known visitors in and out of the CICU visiting room that weekend.  

Surgery was set for around 7 AM Monday morning.  My mom had driven up to be with me at the hospital and help with the kids.  At 5 AM that morning my Granny called.  Sadly, she had not called to see how we were.  You see, the one event I knew would be the hardest to face in my adult life was about to occur.  I adored my Grandaddy greatly, and dreaded the day I would need to tell him goodbye. We had been watching him slowly slip away due to Alzheimer’s Disease while residing in a nursing home. Granny called to let my mom know that he had suffered a heart attack of his own during the night.  The doctor insisted Granny let mom know as he did not think Grandaddy would live through the day. He felt my mom needed to know so she could choose whether or not to rush home – which was a three hour drive.  Mom decided to remain at the hospital until my husband was safely out of surgery, then drive home.  

The hardest part of that day was not being able to tell my husband about Grandaddy.  For years we had talked about how much I would rely on him when the day came to tell my Grandaddy goodbye. He knew I would most likely have a good crying spell and need to be held.  That day though, I couldn’t even tell him it was happening. I had to see him off to pre-op as though my only concern that day was him. Surgery went well and five bypasses were completed.  My mom went home to be with her parents once my husband was in recovery.  I spoke with the surgeon about my Grandaddy and he recommended I not tell my husband until he was out of the ICU. That would most likely be for 24 hours post surgery.  A very, very long 24 hours for me!  

But God does amazing things, even in the most challenging situations.  Grandaddy not only held on until my mom was there, he held on until the next afternoon. We had just settled into the private room and after telling my husband what was anticipated, I called “home” to let them know the room number. My sister was just about to call me herself to let me know Grandaddy had passed away. It would be necessary for me to take the kids “home”on my own to say goodbye. This meant leaving my husband alone in the hospital while he regained his strength. I spent that afternoon securing various people to visit him over the coming days so that he wasn’t alone the entire time.  I took the kids to visit him after school. I spoke with teachers about the need to miss school for three of the four kids.  Wednesday morning I awoke in total panic and despair.  When I called my mom telling her I needed another day to get myself together before driving with four kids, she told me I really needed to be there (for my own sake)  that night for visitation.  But I was falling apart.  I needed help.  God sent that help.  My brother-in-law told me to meet him halfway and then he would drive us the rest of the way “home” while his twin brother drove his car back home. And I managed to do so.  No cell phones to check in with each other yet, so we chose a meeting spot.  The kids kept me talking as I drove that first hour and a half, then my brother-in-law kept me talking and calm for the second hour and a half.  

It was extremely difficult for me to say goodbye to Grandaddy without my husband by my side, but I made it through.  I was stronger afterwards.  God showed me that HE was the one I needed by my side, HE was the one I needed to rely on, and HE was the one I needed to hold me up.  As hard as that week was for me, it was even tougher for my mom.  She had to leave her oldest daughter (me) with a husband in recovery to join her youngest daughter and mother as they watched Grandaddy slip away from us to enter Heaven.  AND – she was not able to be there for her middle daughter as she gave birth to her second child within hours of Grandaddy leaving this world!  To say it was an eventful two days for our family is an understatement!  BUT GOD WAS THERE!  HE is mighty to save!  

My husband came home from the hospital at the end of the week.  My mom soon traveled to New Mexico to meet her newest granddaughter. Granny adjusted to spending her days at home instead of visiting the nursing home.  The kids adjusted to their dad being home for a while.  And life continued – with God leading the way and continuing to protect us.  

“He will cover you with is feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be our shield and rampart.” Psalms 91:4